


Two For the Price of One

by revamped



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Family Dynamics, First Dates, M/M, Meet the Family, Mostly just Roxas being a brat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-27
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2020-10-29 11:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20796050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/revamped/pseuds/revamped
Summary: Sure, Sora was cute and he was fairly certain everyone he knew would bend over backwards for him, but the way that Sora made it sound left Riku questioning his own safety. He had to remind himself, repeatedly, that Roxas was just a kid, but it felt weirdly intimidating to think about this being the make or break for something new.aka the time Riku had to earn the approval of someone else to go on a date with a really cute boy. (A direction continuation of One of Everything)





	Two For the Price of One

**Author's Note:**

> A direction continuation of "One of Everything" which you can read over here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17749415

**8:17pm**

So maybe he should have been looking up from his phone and watching the road. Maybe that’s something he should have considered, but given that the car was only moving five miles per hour he didn’t think he had anything to worry about. 

“Hey, pull over. I’m pretty sure that snail wants to pass us.” He almost laughed at his own joke, but Sora knew better when he leaned out of the way on reflex to dodge Roxas’s fist. “Keep both hands on the wheel.”

“You know, this driving thing wouldn’t be so bad if you were actually paying attention,” Roxas sighed and sat up a little taller in the driver’s seat. He reached up to adjust the mirror, but Sora could feel his brother’s eyes drift to try and catch a glimpse at the text messages Sora was sending. In one fluid motion, Sora readjusted the mirror for him and tilted the screen of his phone down toward his lap. 

It had only been about five minutes since Riku walked away, but Sora was pretty sure he was in love already. Or, at least, some strange semblance of love that one felt when a very attractive boy actually agreed to go out with you while you practically threw yourself at him. Looking back on it, Sora wasn’t sure what possessed him to approach a total stranger who was absolutely waiting for someone else. One might say it was because Riku was very obviously being stood up and that was a crappy position to be in. Others might say it’s because Sora’s always been a little impulsive and threw himself into situations without thinking twice.

Sora, on the other hand, would say it was solely because he was having a really awful day and while he’d initially arrived at Thebes for comfort food, the eye candy hadn’t been half-bad either. 

With his phone down, he eyed Roxas who had a vicegrip on the steering wheel and seemed to be glaring out the windshield, lips threatening to form into a pout as they crept through the parking lot toward the exit. Their house wasn’t even that far, but with the rate they were going Sora assumed he would have to turn around and get ready for his 8am lecture course. 

“Relax. You’re just overthinking it a little. You remember what we went over the other day, right? Keep your eyes moving and always look a few times before pulling out. See? The streets aren’t even that busy right now.” It was a little weird to see Roxas practically glowering and uncertain of himself. They’d done a practice drive three nights ago for Roxas to get after-dark hours in for his driving course and he’d done fine then. So what…?

“How long have you even known that guy?” The abruptness of the statement was enough to make Sora pause, eyebrows furrowing together as Roxas refused to look at him. Stubbornly keeping his gaze forward, the younger boy pushed on the gas pedal a little too hard as the car lurched forward into the road.

“Watch it!” Luckily for them, the car that had been coming toward them was still a few blocks away and Roxas hadn’t pulled out far enough to be in the way. “And what does that have to do with anything?” 

His question was met with silence as Roxas watched the road, turning on his blinker and merging with traffic shortly after. He didn’t reply even as he changed lanes and picked up speed, eyes flickering between the side mirrors, windshield, and rearview mirror. His mouth was drawn into a thin line, knuckles beginning to turn white thanks to the grip on the wheel and it was in that moment a bit of clarity came upon Sora.

_’Ah. He’s mad.’_

“Roxas…” It wasn’t exactly a warning tone but there was a little bit of a pleading edge to it as he turned his head. “You can’t be like this every time I go out with somebody. You know that. What’s the problem here?” 

More silence. Roxas turned the vehicle down a side street to take a shortcut to the house, though now Sora could see he was chewing the inside of his cheek. It was a habit his brother had that served as a sure sign he was holding back some outburst or another.

“Okay, whatever.” Sora rolled his eyes, leaning back in the passenger seat and folding his arms over his chest. Sometimes it was best to leave Roxas alone and allow him time to explode at his own pace, and while Sora’s been on the other end of the boy’s sometimes-volatile temper before he couldn’t figure out for the life of him what he’d actually done this time. All of the other times Sora had brought dates back to the house or went out with people Roxas usually complained for five minutes and ignored it to go hang out with his own friends. So. Why was this time different?

He still didn’t have an answer by the time Roxas pulled up to the curb in front of their house, not-quite parking perfectly but letting the vehicle idle before he wrenched off his seatbelt. He was ready to open the door without saying another word when Sora’s hand snapped out to catch him by the wrist.

“Hold it.” This time it was more authoritative, and Roxas paused. Sora closed his eyes for a moment, trying to get his thoughts in order to handle the situation. They were two and a half years apart and normally he knew how to talk Roxas through everything but something about this conversation felt off. “Seriously, what’s going on?” Roxas openly stared at him, something akin to surprise on his face before he scoffed and shook his wrist out of Sora’s hand.

“Forget it. I’ll see you whenever you have time.” Without waiting for a response, he opened the door and slid out of the car. Sora hadn’t even seen him grab his bag before Roxas turned on his heel and marched up the front walkway toward the front door without another look back. As the door slammed, Sora suddenly felt like a stranger loitering in front of his own house and he got out of the car, moving to head to the driver’s side. Readjusting his mirrors and plugging his phone in to play some music, he couldn’t help but shake his head in disbelief.

“What the hell was that about?”

*********************************************************

**9:32pm**

“I don’t get it.” The voice on the other end of the line sounded far away, and Kairi could only suspect that Sora had put her on speaker to putter around his dorm room. “He’s been acting weird for the last couple of weeks but he won’t tell me why.” 

She shifted the phone a bit from its place between her shoulder and her ear, foot pulled up on the edge of her chair as she unscrewed a bottle of purple nail polish. “I know this is an obvious question, but did you ask him why he’s being weird?”

“What? Of course I did. He told me to forget about it and left without saying anything. And...I dunno. You’ve never met him but this definitely isn’t like him. Roxas usually isn’t shy about letting me know what he’s pissed off about.” Sora was right, of course. She had never met the younger boy and even though she only met Sora a few months ago during freshman orientation it was easy enough to understand what he was talking about. She had heard enough anecdotes about Sora’s “perfect but trying to be angsty baby brother” to have a pretty clear picture of who Roxas was, but even she couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. 

“What brought this on? Do you know?” Eventually she gave up and brought the phone down to her desk, switching to speaker mode herself.

“...oh!” Sora suddenly sounded excited and his voice was much closer, a soft swoosh from the other end of the line that signified he’d pounced on his bed to grab for his phone. “About that. I, uh, kinda met someone?” 

Somehow that didn’t shock her, though maybe she shouldn’t have laughed in response. “Oh yeah? A really cute someone?”

“A really, _really_ cute someone!” She could practically see him nodding his head enthusiastically. “Like...cuter than most of the people I’ve met since school started. He’s actually pretty cool and it was a total accident but it was the perfect meet-cute even if we were there for a little longer than we should’ve been.”

“Do I get a name to go with this really, really cute someone?”

“Absolutely not. Not yet, anyway. I want to see where things go with him first. We have another date planned for Friday.” 

“Look at you working your charm.” She couldn’t help but tease him even as she focused on painting her toenails and glanced at the phone sparingly. “But let me guess, Roxas isn’t happy about it?” 

“I’m not sure why. We were sitting there having dinner while I was waiting for Roxas to clock out, but he started getting annoyed on the drive home. I thought we were going to hang out tonight, but he just left and said he’d see me whenever I had time. So...you know. I went back to my dorm and here we are.” 

One of the things Kairi _did_ know about Sora’s brother is that he worked at a Greek restaurant downtown that had the best and cheapest meals. Sora sometimes brought leftovers for her whenever he came to visit and though she’d never been there herself other people had mentioned it, too. 

Come to think of it, wasn’t Riku’s date at that same restaurant? Wouldn’t that be funny if...but no. That wasn’t even possible. The boy Riku was meeting with had a different name, she was sure of it. Distracted by the task of suddenly texting her best friend, she almost missed Sora’s next sentence.

“He’s been really prickly about the whole dating thing lately. I don’t think it’s a jealousy thing because I _know_ he has girls who’re interested in him.” 

“Did he and Xion finally get together?” 

“No, he’s being shy but that’s my point. He has his own relationships to worry about so it doesn’t make sense why he’s mad that I'm working on mine.” There was a huff of frustration from the other end of the line. “I want to fix it, but I don’t know what needs to be fixed.” 

Repeating the question of “have you asked him” most likely wouldn’t yield any new results, but it was still something she thought as she tried to come up with the best advice for her friend. Texting with one hand and applying another coat of paint to her toenail with the other, she hummed simply to let him know she was still listening and thinking the problem over.

“You said you and Roxas are pretty close, didn’t you?” 

“Yeah. We did practically everything together before I moved out to start classes here.”

“I think...if it were me, I’d want to get to know the new people in my brother’s life instead of constantly being surprised when they show up. Don’t you think? It’s already a lot of big changes for both of you, and if you aren’t hanging out as much as you used to maybe he feels like your dates are taking up all of your free time.” It was a shot in the dark, but given what Sora had said it was what made the most sense. A text from Riku appeared on her home screen, but she didn’t open it yet. 

“So what do you think I should do? Introduce them? Maybe I should change my plans.” 

“Sora, I don’t know if you have to go that far--”

“That might actually work! I’ve gotta rearrange some stuff before Friday but there’s time. Thanks a ton, Kairi. This is why you’re the best.” 

Sora was no longer listening to her, and she had come to realize that trying to talk him out of a “good” idea was almost pointless. “Well, good luck. You’ll tell me how it goes later?”

“Definitely. I’ll see you in class tomorrow!” And without another word, Sora promptly hung up and left Kairi staring at her lockscreen. The photo of Riku and herself on their graduation smiled up at her, and part of her wondered if she should warn Riku about what was coming. It wasn’t exactly her business to begin with, and she still didn’t have the proof she needed to know the boys were talking about each other, but she couldn’t help but be curious. Turning in her chair, she unlocked her screen and finished typing the message she’d initially started.

**hey, so when are you giving me a play-by-play of your date?**

*********************************************************

**11:04am**

Riku still had another five minutes before his next lecture started for the day, but he was always pretty punctual when it came to his coursework. He’d been seated in the middle of the lecture hall since the top of the hour with his notebook on his desk and his phone in his hand. He had since taken out his earbuds to prepare his mind for the next hour, but he couldn’t help but scroll through the text thread Sora had started for them the night before.

_so hey...did i mention i had an awesome time tonight :D?_

**Maybe once or twice, haha.**

_good!! because i did, and i’m really looking forward to friday but…_

**...but?**

_oh god that sounded bad I AM NOT CANCELLING! I PROMISE I AM NOT STANDING YOU UP! but i started thinking and some things are going on and i know roxas is kind of a brat but i think he’s feeling a little left out and mad that i haven’t been spending a lot of time with him, and i think maybe if you guys hung out he might ease up a little, soooo i was wondering if maybe you’d be open to me changing our date on friday to plan something for the three of us?_

_totally understand if you say no btw bc we just met and everything but you’re really cute and i really liked hanging out with you and i want to do a lot more of that in the future but with less “my baby brother wants to kill me for doing this” vibes you know??_

**Sora.**

_and it would be totally great if you guys DID get along and we wouldn’t have to do this again because he’d probably chill out and he’d go back to not wanting anything to do with me or my love life and just being nice but baby steps. it sort of sucks because i had this AMAZING date planned for friday but i guess we can do it another time_

**SORA.**

**It’s fine. Do what you have to do, alright? If you think me meeting Roxas is going to make it easier, I’ll be happy to do it. Plus we’ll still get to spend time together, won’t we? That’ll make it worth it.**

_remember what i said about anybody who stood you up is a huge jerk and doesn’t deserve you? i was 100% right. you’re the best, i’ll make it up to you if you survive <333_

**If I survive? Sora, what?**

_he’s mostly harmless, don’t worry. thank you thank you thank you, i will see you on friday and i’ll text you the deets tomorrow!!!_

Riku didn’t receive any sort of clarification on the matter, but he was starting to wonder if he made the right choice. Sure, Sora was cute and had a smile like the sun and he was fairly certain everyone he knew would bend over backwards for him, but the way that Sora made it sound left Riku questioning his own safety. He had to remind himself, repeatedly, that Roxas was just a kid, but it felt weirdly intimidating to think about this being the make or break for something new.

Swiping back, he tapped the new text chain from Kairi. He hadn’t answered her the night before but the conversation with Sora left him grappling with the right answer.

_hey, so when are you giving me a play-by-play of your date?_

**It turned out better than I thought.**

_yeah? should we be celebrating?_

**Maybe wait until after Friday. We have another date planned, so we’ll see.**

_jfdlsak_

**Uh.**

_sorry! i was trying to keep my grip on my phone. but that’s good, right? i’m so excited for you!_

**It’s a little unusual but I don’t mind that much. He already wants me to meet his family. You have younger cousins and stuff. What would a teenager be impressed with?**

_are you trying to be nice or win them over?_

**The latter. He already doesn’t like me and he’s not gonna like me any more once he realizes what’s going on.**

_sibling?_

**Yeah.**

_presents are good bribes. what about something simple? you know that candy shop off-campus? they make REALLY good saltwater taffy. get two bags - blueberry and cookies and cream. they’re really popular and pretty inoffensive_

**That...is suspiciously specific.**

_selphie told me those sell the best_

**Alright, alright. Two bags of taffy it is. What am I supposed to do if that doesn’t work?**

_be yourself. even if people misunderstand you at first, you always seem to have a way to make things work in your favor. besides, i bet the honesty will be appreciated if this is an overprotective sibling_

**What makes you think he’s overprotective?**

_why else would you be meeting him after your first date?_

_anyway g2g class is starting. still meeting me in the library at 2?_

**Yeah. I’ll see you then.**

Looking up, Riku noticed that the lecture hall had filled considerably and the professor had walked in to begin setting up a powerpoint presentation. Pocketing his phone, he opened his notebook and scribbled down the note “taffy” on the clean page, underlining it twice so he wouldn’t forget. Sometimes Kairi’s methods made no sense to him, but as far as Riku was concerned everything about Sora was unconventional anyway. 

If it didn’t work out? At least he knew a girl who liked taffy.

*********************************************************

**3:26pm**

“Haven’t you ever heard that if you keep making faces they’ll get stuck that way?” A voice said from somewhere behind him, but Roxas made no move to turn his head away even as Xion sat beside him. He didn’t have a shift at Thebes today, and Thursday meant study dates with one of his best friends. Despite the fact that Xion was in all kinds of advanced placement classes and he wasn’t, she had assured him time and time again that she liked studying with him more than the study groups her classmates put together. 

Such claims made his insides feel a little weird, but it was a relief to know she wouldn’t abandon him like that. 

When he didn’t respond, Xion leaned forward to look at the phone in Roxas’s hand, prying his fingers from the screen so she could read it. Blue eyes scanned the words quickly before she raised a brow, scooting back to reach into her backpack.

“Another one?” 

“Mmhm.” Roxas frowned harder at his phone, half-tempted to toss it to the ground. It didn’t matter how nice Sora was making it, the fact of the matter was he was still trying to make Roxas play nice with his new...whatever Riku was. “He just met him yesterday and he’s already acting crazy. I recognize the look he gets when he’s obsessing.” 

“At least he wants you to meet this one. That’s probably a good sign.” He could tell she was cautious about that statement, and he wasn’t even sure he could blame her. He had griped and complained about Sora at least twice a day since school started and while he was sure it was driving her crazy Xion had always been patient with him and listened to him and told him when he was justified and when he was being overdramatic. It was sort of the main reason he trusted her as much as he did. 

“The guy’s kind of a jerk. He comes into the restaurant a lot.” 

“Have you ever talked to him?” 

“...not really, but--”

“Then how do you know he’s a jerk?” He didn’t like that he could hear a little bit of laughter in her tone, but he ignored it in favor of digging his chemistry book out of his bag. 

“I just do. But I have to go because if I say no Sora’s going to whine until I say yes.” 

“I thought you were done lying to me about stuff like this.” Subtle, but Xion knew well enough that Roxas wasn’t being completely forthright with his motivations. To her, Roxas was one of the most honest and brutal people she had met and very possessive of what belonged to him. Some people were put off by that, but she had to wonder how she’d react in his situation, too. She opened her history book to the right page and skimmed for the paragraph she had stopped reading. “Why don’t you just tell Sora you’re worried about him?” 

“You’ve met my brother. He’ll tell me there’s nothing to worry about, that he can take care of himself, call the whole thing cute and completely miss the point that he’s actually way too trusting and he’s going to get hurt again if he keeps doing this.” Roxas didn’t open his textbook yet, fingers drumming on the book’s spine as he sighed through his nose. “...you’d tell me if I was being unfair, wouldn’t you?”

“Weeelll…”

“Oh come on!” 

“You’re being a _little_ unfair! A little.” Xion peered up through her bangs, and for a moment Roxas forgot what they were talking about. “Sora’s sort of an adult and he has to make his own choices. Plus I don’t want to see you being mad at him for something this stupid. Aren’t you the one who told me you missed him?” 

“I have to stop telling you things because you just use them against me,” he mumbled under his breath and the two of them went back to their books. They worked in silence for some time, Xion actively writing notes and referencing her books while Roxas doodled in the margins and continued sneaking glances at her. The whole thing was complicated. Ever since Sora started college and started dating more and started trying to juggle everything in his life, it became harder and harder to actually talk to him. Was that the fault of the people his brother dated? Maybe not, but it felt better to be mad at them because they never lasted long.

The _real_ problem, Roxas thought, was that even just by judging what had happened the night before it was obvious to him that Riku wasn’t going to disappear. Sora was going to hold onto Riku for as long as he could, whether Roxas liked it or not. 

“So what you’re saying is I have to actually try, and we need to reschedule our movie streaming night with Axel.” 

“Yup.” She didn’t even bother looking up this time, but there was a tiny smirk on her lips. “We can tell him we’ll do Saturday, and you can tell both of us all about this Riku boy. But you have to behave! Promise?”

She took the groan of defeat as a good sign, and though he wanted to ignore the way she patted him on the head, neither of them bothered to point out the way that he leaned into her touch. 

“...but I think I have a better idea.” 

“Roxas, _no._”

*********************************************************

**6:48pm**

The last time Riku went to an arcade, he was twelve years old and Kairi proceeded to run circles around him in a Dance Dance Revolution marathon nobody asked for. He was resigned to call her the Dancing Queen for a whole year and they never found the time to go back after that. While he knew that Sora was changing their plans for their date that evening, somehow he hadn’t expected something reminiscent of his childhood.

_’Then again, we’re babysitting an actual child today.’_

He sat on a bench just outside of the arcade, two bags of taffy in his lap and his phone in his hand as he thumbed through his group chat with the group he had come to know as the Shibuya Squad. Most of the conversation was a flood of commentary and bickering between Joshua and Shiki, but Neku sent a handful of thumbs up emojis and somehow that felt like approval of Riku’s second date. He wasn’t exactly subconscious, but he had to wonder if he should have consulted Shiki with his outfit choice before coming here.

It was a little too late for that now, but that didn’t stop him from taking a quick selfie to send. Somewhere in the middle of arguing his choices (“_the v-neck’s nice but what’s with the pants?” “They’re fine!_”), a shadow cast over his screen and soon Riku felt a dull kick to his shin that nearly made him drop his phone.

“Wha--hey!” He looked up, sitting back just enough to get a look at the blonde standing in front of him.

Seeing Roxas outside of his work uniform was both strange and enlightening, and he hated to say it but it made the brothers look more alike. Dressed in similarly dark colors, Roxas stood in front of him with a skateboard tucked under his arm, a backpack over his shoulder and a permanent frown etched into his features as he stared down at Riku critically. 

“You’re early.” The boy didn’t move at all, but the sneer was probably supposed to be intimidating. Riku raised his eyebrows but he didn’t move at all. 

“Where’s Sora?” 

“I don’t know, probably running late like usual. Is that a problem?” The tone left little room for argument, so perhaps it was a good thing Riku didn’t have a problem with Sora’s lack of punctuality. 

“No. We can wait for him.” The thing Riku had to remember was that he was dealing with a bratty fifteen year old, not someone his own age who he could just walk away from and ignore. He had to at least try to win Roxas over to his side if he stood a chance of starting something new with Sora but it was beginning to look like that was easier said than done. He scooted over on the bench to allow Roxas room to sit, but the boy shook his head and remained standing. 

_’Still trying to intimidate me? Nice try.’_ As he opened his mouth to tell Roxas to have a seat, blue eyes flickered past Riku’s face and toward his hands. If he hadn’t been watching as closely as he had, Riku would have missed the slight uptick of his lip and the keen interest that crossed his face.

“What’s with the taffy?” 

It wasn’t hard to miss the brief twitch of Roxas’s fingers, ready to snatch the bag out of Riku’s hand, but Riku held it up and just out of reach in the most nonchalant manner he could muster.

“What, this? Friend of mine recommended it, thought it’d be good to try. Ever had it before?”

“...yeah. It’s my favorite.” Roxas’s resolve wavered, and Riku was almost surprised to see him start to crumble in the face of a bag of candy.

Almost. Roxas was still a teenager, and Riku made a note to himself to thank Kairi much, much later. Lifting the bag up enticingly, Riku subtly scooted over again. 

“Wanna share it? I didn’t know how big the bags were going to be when I bought them.” While Kairi had advised presenting them as a gift, he was starting to think that Roxas would see right through him and outright refuse if Riku tried to bribe him. He could almost clearly see the gears turning in Roxas’s head, the internal war between holding his ground and his sweet tooth before he clenched his jaw and practically threw himself down on the bench. Keeping a large gap between them, he held out a hand for Riku to pour several of the wrapped treats into his palm.

“This doesn’t mean I like you or anything.” Riku had to bite back his laughter when Roxas spoke, but there was a serious nod as he dispensed the taffy into his open hand. “You’re still on trial.” 

“And what’s my crime?” 

Roxas didn’t reply immediately, taking his time unwrapping one of the candies and jamming it into his mouth to chew. “Leading my brother on, obviously. I don’t know what your game is, but he’s already pretty invested and he doesn’t even know you.” 

He hadn’t expected Roxas to be so forthright with the problem, but looking at it, Riku figured this was something Roxas felt about most of Sora’s suitors. He didn’t take any of the taffy for himself, waiting for Roxas to continue rather than interrupt. 

“...man, who are you?” he finally said, looking at Riku from the corner of his eye. “Why are you even interested in him? You’ve barely had time to talk to him.” The skateboard he’d been carrying was planted under his feet, gently rolling back and forth as he unwrapped a second candy. “And if you’re just interested in him to screw around, I’m going to have to ask you to leave and never talk to him ever again.” 

Alright, so there was some baggage here that neither sibling had brought up to Riku. As far as he could surmise, something had happened with one of Sora’s last relationships that ended really poorly and now Roxas was hyper-aggressive about it. Sure. He could understand that, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t a little frustrating. He resisted the urge to run a hand through his hair, schooling his expression into a look of calm before trying to answer. 

“Your brother approached me, actually.” It was embarrassing to admit, but it needed to be said. “And your brother’s the one who asked me out. But I promise you it’s nothing serious yet and we’re both in agreement on that. Shouldn’t you be having this conversation with him instead of me?” He briefly thought that perhaps he had said the wrong thing, given that Roxas turned his head sharply to glare at him. A tense five seconds passed before he abruptly stood up, pointing to the open doors of the arcade.

Lifting an eyebrow, Riku slowly rose to his feet and began to follow Roxas to the arcade, ignoring that the bag of blueberry taffy had somehow disappeared from his hands into Roxas’s backpack. The arcade itself was a little crowded that evening but Roxas brushed past everyone present to lead Riku to a back corner. Sitting side by side were two toy motorcycles, one joint screen looming over them.

“If you’re gonna treat this like a game, then we’re gonna play a game.” Calmly, Roxas approached the console and crouched down, opening the front pocket of his backpack to remove a black and white checkered wallet. Withdrawing a plastic card with the arcade’s name branded on it, he swiped it through the machine twice to pay for both of them. “Beat me in this race and then we’ll talk.” 

Instead of acting, Riku stood still with his mouth agape and an incredulous noise caught in his throat. There were plenty of things he would do for someone he liked, but he never imagined beating a younger sibling at a light cycle racing game would be an objective to clear. Somehow, Riku hadn’t noticed just how much shorter Roxas was than himself, or how his hands never quite stopped flexing as though debating if he wanted to punch Riku and get it over with. Had he ever been this agitated when he was Roxas’s age? A quiet voice in the back of his head said _”duh”_ and he squared his shoulders, marching to the cycle on the left and swinging himself up and over onto the seat.

“You’re on.” He sounded much more confident than he felt, but it was almost laughable the way that Roxas hopped up onto his own cycle and leaned forward with renewed determination. 

It was less laughable when the game started and Roxas’s avatar immediately pulled ahead on the screen while Riku fumbled to figure out the gas pedal. The game turned out to be one of those where you not only raced around a track with tight turns and spontaneously-appearing walls, several obstacles stood in your way to shoot at all while getting an edge over your opponent. Watching Roxas, it was easy to see that the boy was good at multitasking and it belatedly dawned on him that he had been set up to lose in the first place. Roxas had purposefully picked a game that he excelled at, and while the realization should have made him angry, there was something kind of sweet about the gesture.

Whatever was going on, it just assured him that Sora was a better person than he had imagined. Why else would someone fight this hard for him?

Looking back on it later, Riku would try to claim that it was skill that had caused him to pull ahead at the last minute. Truthfully, it was dumb luck and space debris in Roxas’s path that delayed his avatar and gave Riku a brief opening to bypass him. As the game screen flashed and declared Riku the winner, Roxas turned his head just enough to shoot him a murderous look. Even in the face of petulance, Riku simply smiled and turned in his seat to face the younger boy.

“Ready to talk?” It sort of felt like addressing a startled housecat, but Riku continued anyway. “...I’m not going to make promises that I can’t keep to you or to Sora. But I _can_ promise is that I like him a lot, and I’m going to do my best to make this as fun for however long it’s going to last. I don’t want to hurt him, and I want to take things slow to make this last for a while. He’s really important to you, isn’t he?” The slow nod Roxas gave was a good sign that he was listening, at least. It meant Riku was on the right track, and he remembered the way Roxas had pouted and grumbled when the attention was off of him and on Riku instead. “Sora and I have a lot of chances to see each other and talk, so I don't have to always take up his time. I’m still getting to know him, but I want to learn more about him. And since you're important to him, too, I want to learn more about you as well. Will you let me?”

If he thought about it, it sort of made sense. Sora had mentioned Roxas put a ban on bringing dates around, and Roxas’s hostility was bigger when Sora was involved. Asking for permission was maybe a little silly given they were in college and Riku could make his own decisions, but creating something new always started with a solid foundation. Roxas didn’t speak up, staring at Riku in a way that suggested nobody had ever outright asked. He leaned forward on the handlebars of the cycle, ignoring the flashing lights and sounds of the game as he stared at the screen.

“...he likes horror movies the most because it means he can cling to whoever he’s closest to as an excuse. He’s eighteen but he still hates broccoli. His favorite color’s red and he can’t sing but he always does when he knows the words to a song. He likes surprises and he likes group activities and if you _do_ hurt him in any way possible I will kick your ass and he will never know about it.” By the time Roxas turned to look at him, a gentle smile had replaced the puzzled frown. “He likes your eyes. And that you’re pretty down to earth and kind of a huge nerd.”

“--did he say that?” 

The only response was a laugh, but somehow it felt like a victory.

“There you are!” The pair of them turned to look over their shoulders as Sora pushed past a group of giggling girls leaning against a Ms. Pac-Man machine. “I went to pick you up from the house and Mom said you’d already left.” 

Roxas shrugged in response, leaning back in his seat. “I had something to take care of. Didn’t you get my message?” 

“Uh, no?” Sora shook his head, flashing a bright grin at Riku before he bounded forward. “He didn’t talk you into this, did he? Roxas always cheats at this game.”

“I do not!” 

Riku glanced at Roxas over the top of Sora’s head, smirking just enough to still appear friendly and get across the message. “It’s fine. It was kind of fun, wasn’t it?” 

Roxas had enough grace to at least look embarrassed as he nodded, looking away toward the screen again. Sora’s head turned between the two of them, a funny little grin appearing before he rolled his eyes.

“Okay, whatever. I was kind of thinking dinner at the burger place next door _before_ we did this? I don’t think anybody’s had dinner yet.” 

“Riku brought you a snack.” Roxas still wasn’t facing them, but he jumped off of the cycle and grabbed his backpack and skateboard from the floor. Only then did Riku remember the second bag of taffy.

“Right. Here, these are supposed to be pretty good.” 

Every bit of absurdity about today was worth it the moment Sora’s eyes lit up. “This is the _best_ kind! How’d you know?” Tanned hands immediately tore into the bag, unwrapping the treat and offering another to Riku. 

“Lucky guess.” Something tugged at the back of his mind, a conclusion he was drawing but one that didn’t really make sense. “Actually, a friend recommended them. Do you--”

“Let’s _go!_” Roxas’s voice was suddenly fifteen feet away and drifting toward the front door. “I’m starving.” Sora stopped, closing his eyes and silently counting to three before looking up at Riku again. 

“I’ll make this up to you later. I promise.” He held out a hand to help Riku down, but he didn’t let go once Riku was on his feet. For as relaxed as Sora sounded, a hint of nervousness appeared every now and again as he watched Roxas walk away. Taking a step forward, Riku squeezed his hand before he began to follow.

“You’re really lucky you’re so cute.” He was teasing him, of course, but he was quick to follow with reassurances. “And you’ve been worth the wait so far. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”

Maybe he should have expected the kiss that followed, but he could learn to like surprises, too.

*********************************************************

**12:53pm**

“So why did we change the movie suddenly?” Axel’s voice came through the speakers on Roxas’s monitor, green eyes staring into his webcam as he watched the two younger teenagers arrange themselves in Roxas’s bedroom. 

“Because, Riku recommended this one to me and it sounded better. It should be really good, it has a lot of cool twists.” 

“Riku, huh?” Xion commented lightly but Roxas could hear the “I told you so” in her voice. He pushed the side of her head even as he rolled his eyes and clicked through the file to set up the movie stream for them.

“Who’s Riku?” The question from Axel wasn’t out of place, but Roxas brushed it off casually.

“My brother’s new boyfriend. He’s kind of an interesting guy, I guess.” 

“You? Liking one of Sora’s boyfriends? Well color me surprised.” That same tone shifted from Xion to Axel, and Roxas didn’t even have to look up to see the curious look on his other best friend’s face. “Guess miracles _do_ happen once in a while.”

“_Whatever_,” he shot back even as he settled next to a giggling Xion on his bed facing the computer. “Just shut up and watch the movie, okay? I’ll tell you the whole story later.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello! I wanted to write something set in the same verse and expanding on the character relationships with one another, and I wanted to write more of Roxas so here we go. I like writing in short bursts just to remember that I can, haha. Unbeta'd as usual because why not. Thanks for reading!


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